Open one of my mother's carefully packed boxes marked "Libros -- María del Mar" and you'll find the usual firstborn's collection of notebooks pre-K through grade 12, countless drawings, awards, and other memories preserved on scraps of fading paper. You'll also find several half-finished hardcover journals marked "María del Mar's Cookbook" dating back to the mid-1980s. The ink is usually bright pink and purple (once scented in strawberry and grape) and the pages thick with glue stick pasted magazine cutouts of brownies, cakes, and pies.

Spend but a few minutes perusing and you need not be a Hardy Boy to figure out there was a small child with more than a few quirks and obsessive compulsive tendencies. The most evident fixation: biscuits. I would make a recipe, gold star it (with actual gold star stickers) and proclaim it "Best Biscuits Ever!" (eerie forecast of my future employment at America's Test Kitchen?).

A few entries later, a new biscuit recipe with a "P.S. These are better than the ones on page 25" would appear. The trend continues through the 1990s and 2000s.

I still have an addiction to and obsession with biscuits. The ones in this recipe (usually made chive-free) are currently on my gold star list. Fluffy, light, and easy to make, these are the breakfast biscuits you want to make in your mismatched PJs.

Use this biscuit recipe plain or fill it with your favorite ingredients. My hankering for this week included crisp-edged Canadian bacon (do try Applegate Farms brand or anything other than those rubbery round things!), fried eggs, and a Worcestershire and hot sauce (Cholula is my flavor of the month) spiked cheddar spread. You might need a fork and knife or a few napkins for this one.

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